While there is worry by some about trading away levels of liberty in exchange for security, President Trump wants Chicago to strongly consider "stop and frisk" to combat crime.
In his address at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Annual Convention in Orlando, Fla. on Monday, President Trump brought up the suggestion of using stop and frisk in Chicago in order to combat the violence, shootings and drug traffic that has ravaged the city in the last few years.
“I’ve told them to work with local authorities to try to change the terrible deal the city of Chicago entered into with ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union], which ties law enforcement’s hands, and to strongly consider stop and frisk,” Trump said. “It works, and it was meant for problems like Chicago.”
You can watch Trump’s stop and frisk comments below:
The president said, stop and frisk works when “properly applied.” That sentiment sounded eerily similar to comments from former FBI Director James Comey when he told a House of Representatives panel in 2016 that “the police tactic known as ‘stop and frisk’ is an important tool when used right.”
Even CNN reported on the successes of stop and frisk in 2016, despite predictably trying to discount the numbers.
According to CNN:
It is clear that crime rates plunged in New York during Giuliani's time in office, as well as the terms of his successor, Michael Bloomberg, who ramped up the stop-and-frisk program[…]
But the number of homicides did not fall in proportion to the soaring number of stops, dropping from 587 in 2002 to 515 in 2011. Moreover, the NYCLU also found that in the more than 5 million stops between 2002 and 2013, guns were found in only 0.2% of the cases.
Other violent crimes also fell during this time period. Assaults were down 13%, robberies declined 27% and rape declined 35%, according to City-Data.com. But none of these drops came close to corresponding with the huge increase in stop-and-frisk cases.
So, basically CNN said that stop and frisk works, but it’s not worth it compared with the number of people actually stopped. It’s not clear whether stop and frisk was the reason for the decline in those particular crimes, but consider the alternative of not using stop and frisk during that time. All those drops in percentages for assaults, robberies and rape wouldn’t exist.
According to the Chicago Tribune, as of October 8th, 2,346 people have been shot in Chicago in 2018. While the report states that the number of shooting victims is down by 630 compared to this time last year, the numbers of victims is on par or has surpassed the numbers from 2012 through 2015.
While I’m a huge proponent of personal liberties without government interference, nothing else has worked thus far in Chicago. Maybe Trump is onto something with the suggestion of stop and frisk.